Tag: Bad workplace habits

Do you work with someone who takes two-hour lunch breaks, makes dozens of personal calls and naps in their desk chair? Perhaps they frequent the restroom or surf the web all day, while you hustle to keep up with your daily workload. It’s not uncommon to come across a lazy co-worker, and they’re not always easy to deal with.

Carping and tattling won’t get you anywhere – but there are a few things you can do to alleviate the issue. Here are 12 tips for dealing with a lazy co-worker from Stever Robbins, an executive and personal coach, and top 10 business podcaster.

1. Don’t let them distract you. Don’t spend your day focusing on the fact that your lazy co-worker is constantly checking Facebook, texting or snoring at the desk next to yours. Try to tune them out and focus on your work. “Human beings are funny that way,” Robbins says. “We will spend more time focusing on the fact that our colleague isn’t doing their work than it would take to just do it ourselves.”

2. Don’t get caught up in the issue of fairness. Life isn’t fair. “People often say ‘it’s unfair that he gets away with doing nothing,’ but at the end of the day, it really doesn’t change anything,” Robbins says. “By pointing out that it’s not fair, we just make ourselves feel bad and the situation doesn’t change.” Instead, focus on being the best that you can be.

3.Decide who you want to be. “These tips are really all about behavior, but there’s a more important question: Who do you want to show up as in your life?” he says. “Think of the people you deeply admire, and what personal qualities make them admirable? Regardless of the practical implications of your actions, ask yourself how the ‘Ideal You’ would deal with the situation. You’ll behave very differently with Chuck Norris as your role model then with Ghandi as your role model.” Sometimes, who you are as a person is more important in determining your actions than momentary concerns of a specific situation.

4. Don’t let it affect your attitude. If you waste your time and energy on being angry or annoyed about your lazy colleague, your work performance may start slipping and you may be less pleasant to be around. A hostile colleague is just as bad as a lazy one.

5. Don’t tattle. That might make you look like a apple polisher, so don’t do it. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t speak up. “This one is tricky,” he warns. “It depends on the situation and the boss. Some bosses might say, ‘Thanks for letting me know. I’ll investigate,’ while others may tell you, ‘It’s not your job to worry about your co-workers’ performance.’ It could make you look bad. But if you go to your boss and say, ‘I’m at a point where I can’t go any further with this project because I’m waiting for Bill to finish his part. What can we do about this?,’ it gets the point across without your seeming like a tattler.” If they explicitly ask you to review your co-workers’ performance, you should be honest, Robbins suggests.

6. Don’t let their ways rub off on you. Don’t get sucked into their routine of two-hour lunch breaks and dozens of trips to the restroom or water cooler. If they start chatting with you, let them know you’re busy. “It’s tempting to follow their lead if they are getting away with it, but don’t fall into that trap,” he says.

7. Don’t let their work become your responsibility. If you’re on the same team or share the same responsibilities, don’t pick up the work they aren’t doing. Remind them of tasks and deadlines, but don’t let babysitting your lazy colleagues consume too much of your valuable time.

8. Don’t let them affect your success. A lazy colleague can hinder your progress. If your boss notices work isn’t getting done, don’t let the blame fall on you. This is your opportunity to speak up, if you haven’t done so already.

9. Use the opportunity to become a leader. This may be your chance to really step up and prove you can deal with difficult situations. “When you go to your boss, tell him or her that you’ve noticed your colleague isn’t getting their work done, so you would like the opportunity to be a leader. Then, approach your colleague and say you want to help him meet goals and deadlines. This frames you as a leader.”

11. Communicate with your co-worker. He or she might not be lazy. Instead, they might be unclear of their tasks and deadlines. “Be clear about goals, deadlines and commitments,” Robbins suggests. “Sometimes it’s not that they’re lazy, it’s that they don’t have a good way of organizing their work or managing their time.” There’s always a chance that they’re preoccupied with a personal matter, too. “We need to remember that life happens,” he says. They could be distracted by a health issue or family problem.

12. Don’t say yes to projects that require your co-worker to work at full capacity. If your co-worker is chronically lazy and nothing or no one—not you, not your boss—has been able to make a difference, proactively work this into how you plan, Robbins says. “When you’re given a project where you’ll have to depend on your lazy co-worker, factor their anticipated laziness into your schedule. Don’t agree to a time frame that assumes they’ll deliver,” he adds. You can also use this as an opportunity to ask for more resources. “For example, you can say, ‘Hey, boss, I’m afraid I won’t be able to finish the project by June with the current resources.’ You’re boss might respond, ‘But you have Bob.’ Tell him, ‘Yes, but given the pace of Bob’s work, I don’t think he can deliver what we’ll need in the time frame we’ll need it.’ Best case, you’ll get the resources you need. Worst case, you’ve implicitly raised the issue of Bob’s performance with your boss in a non-aggressive way.”

According to Globoforce, 78 percent of people who work between 30 to 50 hours per week actually spend more time with their coworkers than with their families. Because of the amount of time that we spend with colleagues, I find it pretty important to encourage friendships in the workplace.

Not only does it boost morale, it also increases trust and productivity throughout the departments in the company and helps the company gel as a whole.

I’ve noticed over the years that I have fostered some of the best relationships and best friendships I’ve ever had at work. I’ve also had to work at repairing some damaged relationships due to stupid things that I really didn’t realize were damaging the people closest to me.
Here are a few things that I personally have had to work on over the past years to not destroy my workplace relationships.

1. Gossiping
Workplace gossip doesn’t just destroy relationships. It can be so damning that it’s considered to be a ‘virus’ that is “worse than any flu or bug and will decrease your quality of work, and destroy profits and morale fast if you don’t do some fast treatments.” The reason? Workplace gossip can convert a place of business into a battlefield, where team members are forced to pick sides. Not only does this create a hostile environment, it also eliminates any trust that has been built among colleagues.

Preventing gossip in the workplace isn’t easy, but whenever you hear a story getting passed along the office, ask yourself if the story is actually true – and don’t continue to spread the virus. Sometimes you may have to even let the main culprit of gossip go to prevent this from continuing. Gossiping doesn’t always have to be negative either, but it can still hurt.

2. Unreliability
This is one I’ve really struggled with. We’ve all worked with the individual who either is frequently late, can’t attend a meeting because of an emergency, or fails to follow-through on a promise. When you have an unreliable person on the team, it proves to everyone else that they don’t follow through.

To fix this problem I stopped overextending myself and committing to things I could never complete on time. Always follow through, and if you can’t make a deadline let the person know before it’s due. It didn’t happen overnight, I had to work at it but it’s helped me regain the trust of those around me and grow my business more than ever.

3. Procrastination
I know a lot of people who do their best work at the last minute. While this may be effective for the individual when working on a solo project, this is not always a good practice, nor fair to the rest of the team who has already completed their part of the project. In a company, we are a team. When there’s procrastination, it forces other team members to scramble on to finalize a project at the last minute. This not only puts unnecessary stress on colleagues and can be a huge let down.

I’ve started to prioritize the things I hate the most and hardest to complete at the beginning of the day. This helps me to not procrastinate. I’ve also gotten into the habit of completing projects a day early. This also helps when I screw something up (we all do it) so I have time to fix.

4. Bullying
Think back to your childhood. Did you trust the bully? Did you want to be around those kids who treated you poorly and made you feel abused? Of course not. Unfortunately, there are adults who can also be considered bullies. These people can make the workplace uncomfortable for employees – since they don’t feel safe. Even if someone is not the object of the office bully, the negative impact is immeasurable.

5. Lying
We’ve all told a white lie here and there. Whether it’s calling in sick because you would rather go to the beach or claiming that you don’t know how to use a piece of hardware / software, these little white lies seemingly are harmless. And, in some cases, that’s the case. As David Shulman, associate professor at Lafayette College and author of From Hire to Liar: The Role of Deception in the Workplace, says in Bloomberg Businessweek, “They’re really in the interest of getting the job done.”

Frequently, pathological liars, however, can become a serious problem in the workplace. It diminishes their integrity and makes it difficult for others to trust them – especially if these individuals are in top management.

6. Saying one thing and doing another
One of the most infuriating occurrences among colleagues is when they promise you something and fail to deliver. For example, if you were building a website and it’s ready to go live, but you’re you’ve been waiting for the copy from a colleague for the last week, wouldn’t you be agitated? If you want to keep peace in the workplace and maintain the trust of team members, follow through on your promises.

7. Stealing credit
Let’s keep this one short and sweet. Taking credit for someone else’s work illustrates that you only care about yourself. This selfish act decreases trust and will quickly cause colleagues to turn against you. So, always give the appropriate credit to the person who earned it.

8. Addicted to social media but failing to respond to emails
How much time do you spend on social media each day? I bet you it’s four times what you think it is. Prioritize responding to emails and finishing up work before you allow yourself to go on social media… unless you found this article through social media, to which I would say, touche!

9. Not being a team player
There are definitely times when working independently can be beneficial — such as completing a report before a deadline. However, you can’t expect to be successful in the workplace by being the “lone wolf.” In fact, being a team player can make you stronger both personally and professionally, as well as realizing that the team goal is more important than any individual goals that you’ve set.

Not only does being a team play build trust, it helps motivate the team to support and work together to support each other and finalize a project.